After the shock and confusion surrounding the leak of a 28-point peace plan containing some of Russia’s most maximalist demands, and the marathon weekend talks to revise them, the US and Ukraine struck a similarly cautious, yet hopeful tone Tuesday.
“There are a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out,” wrote White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on X.
“Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva,” was the assessment of lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov.
In other words, there’s more work to be done – and likely on the most important parts of the deal. But getting the US and Ukraine to agree is not the most difficult part of this. Getting Russia to sign onto any compromises, when it has spent the past few days signaling it will reject any revised deal outright, seems at this stage, almost impossible. And yet, Russia does want the US to keep trying.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Monday he believes the 28-point peace plan, which would among other things require Ukraine to withdraw from territory it still controls, and commit to never joining NATO, “could form the basis for a final peace settlement.” He made those comments the day after the US and Ukraine made a number of key revisions to the document at talks in Geneva.
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